A Rwandan National Police officer watches M23 rebel troops arrive at the Rusizi border post joining the Congolese city of Bukavu with Cyangugu in Rwanda, on February 16, 2025 in Cyangugu, Rwanda.
| Photo Credit: Getty images

Rwanda-backed rebels appeared to be heading toward a third major city in eastern Congo, frightened residents said Tuesday, as international pressure rose over the M23’s expansion in the mineral-rich region that’s critical for global technology.

“We’re afraid that the enemy will advance to Butembo,” said Auguste Kombi, a civil society leader in Kitsombiro, a town on the road to the city of over 150,000 people.

He told The Associated Press that all main Congolese army positions along the road in the area were attacked Tuesday morning, and security was rapidly deteriorating.

It means the M23 are now moving both north and south of Goma, the city of over 2 million people it seized last month as about 3,000 people were killed. The rebels this week seized another provincial capital to Goma’s south, Bukavu, near Burundi.

The M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,000 miles away.

“We’re worried because we’re in danger of experiencing a situation similar to that in Goma, with the loss of human lives,” said Kambale Nyuliro, a Kitsombiro civil servant. He told the AP that Lubero town, on the way to Butembo, was surrounded on three sides by M23 fighters but still under Congolese army control.

“Since the fighting began, the enemy has only advanced,” he said.

Analysts have said the rebels are eyeing political power, unlike their brief capture of Goma, a major security and humanitarian hub, in 2012.

The rebel-appointed mayor of Goma said Tuesday they would carry out a census, in a sign of their intention to maintain control of the city. And ferry service resumed between Goma and Bukavu, the only way to travel between them for now.

Rwanda has accused Congo of enlisting ethnic Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 says it’s fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform Congo from a failed state to a modern one. Analysts have called those pretexts for Rwanda’s involvement.

On Tuesday, the U.K. Foreign Office summoned the Rwandan ambassador in London and in a statement condemned the rebel gains, calling them “an unacceptable violation of (Congo’s) sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“The government of Rwanda must immediately withdraw all Rwanda Defense Force troops from Congolese territory,” the statement added.

There was no immediate comment from Rwanda.

Dozens of armed groups have long been active in eastern Congo, displacing more than 6 million people and creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The M23’s latest movement north keeps the rebels not far from Uganda, which on Tuesday said it sent troops into yet another eastern Congo city further to the north, Bunia. Uganda said it was meant to combat violence by armed groups. It has periodically sent troops into Congo in agreement with the government in Kinshasa.

Also Tuesday, the U.N. human rights chief accused the Rwanda-backed rebels of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid.

Volker Türk said in a statement that his office “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons.”

He provided no details, but U.N. agencies have previously accused both the rebels and Congolese government forces of recruiting children.

The U.N. Human Rights Council this month launched a commission that will investigate atrocities, including rapes and killings akin to “summary executions,” committed by both sides this year.

Congolese Major-General Somo Kakule Evariste walks as he arrives to assume office as the new military governor of the conflict-hit North Kivu province amid tensions following clashes in Goma between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo January 31, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The majority of Indian nationals living in violence-hit Goma in Congo have moved to safer places, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said on Friday (Janaury 31, 2025).

The M23 rebel group, backed by Rwandan soldiers, has taken complete control of all key locations in Goma, including the airport, and the Congolese armed forces have given up showing white flags, according to defence sources.

Also Read | Congo’s leader calls for massive military mobilization as Rwanda-backed rebels expand their control

Calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, Mr. Jaiswal said: “We are closely following the developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We remain concerned at the deteriorating security situation.”

“Our Embassy in Kinshasa has issued advisories for Indians living in the Goma area where the conflict has taken place,” Mr. Jaiswal said. “There are about 1,000 Indian nationals in Goma. Most of them have moved to safer places since the outbreak of the conflict. The Embassy remains in regular touch with the community for their welfare and safety.”

‘Firing has stopped’

According to defence sources, firing has stopped in Goma, and all Indian troops – over 1,200 – deployed under the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) are absolutely safe. “Situation in the area is relatively calm. There is no effect on unit deployment. UN mandate is being fulfilled as required.,” one official added.

On the Indian troops, Mr. Jaiswal said they were in regular touch with the UN on the evolving situation in DRC.

Indian troops are deployed at two locations – Goma and Sake.

Also Read | Congo’s forces try to slow Rwanda-backed rebels in the east as protests break out in the capital

The mission MONUSCO headquartered at Kinshasa was established in 2010 replacing the earlier MONUC. As of October 2024, there were 13,971 personnel, with Bangladesh being the highest troop contributing nation with over 1,700 troops.

The M23 rebel group swept through several towns beyond Goma, a city of two million, in the last few days, and the intense fighting has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

Congo’s leader called for a massive military mobilization to help fight Rwanda-backed rebels who were attempting to seize more territory in the country’s east, as a crucial meeting of neighbours asked the Congolese government to talk with the rebels. Rwanda’s leader also threatened to “deal” with any confrontation with South Africa regarding the conflict.

In his first public remarks since the M23 rebels advanced into eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, on Monday, President Félix Tshisekedi late Wednesday vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” to push back the rebels while reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful resolution. “Enlist massively in the army because you are the spearhead of our country,” he urged young people.

Also Read | Congo tries to slow the assault of Rwanda-backed rebels amid reports of dead bodies in the streets

As much of Goma remained without electricity and water on Thursday (January 30, 2025), several bodies allegedly of government soldiers were lying in the streets as residents including children looked on in seeming horror.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot arrived in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday and could visit Rwanda afterward, Congo’s government press agency reported, quoting diplomatic sources.

The U.N. World Food Program reported widespread looting of food stores and warehouses in Goma.

“This is something that is going to exacerbate a dangerous cycle of violence as desperate times call for desperate measures,” the WFP’s emergency coordinator in eastern Congo, Cynthia Jones, said Thursday.

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma. They are one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits estimated to be worth $24 trillion that are critical to much of the world’s technology.

After capturing much of Goma, a humanitarian hub critical for more than 6 million people displaced by the conflict in eastern Congo, the rebels were advancing toward South Kivu’s provincial capital, Bukavu, causing fear and panic among residents, witnesses said Thursday.

Néné Bintou, a civil society leader, said gunshots and explosions were heard in Mukwinja, a captured town 86 miles (135 kilometers) from Bukavu.

The Congolese military has been weakened after hundreds of foreign military contractors withdrew and handed over their arms to the rebels. Residents of Goma described seeing soldiers changing into civilian clothing and dropping their guns as they crossed over the border to Rwanda or took shelter in foreign peacekeeping bases.

“The (Congolese) military bases in Bukavu have been emptied to reinforce those in Nyabibwe, Bushushu, and Nyamukubi” along the way to the capital, one youth leader said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was worried about his safety.

A summit of the regional East African bloc called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in eastern Congo and “strongly urged” Tshisekedi’s government to hold talks with the rebels. Tshisekedi was conspicuously absent from the virtual summit attended by Rwanda, also a member.

While African countries as well as the U.N. and U.S. have called for an immediate ceasefire, the risk of a regional war has increased, analysts say, exacerbated by the rebels’ advance into South Kivu and diatribes between Rwandan and South African officials. Congo is a member of the southern Africa regional bloc and also that of east Africa, whose peacekeeping force it expelled last year after deeming it ineffective.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed the “Rwanda Defense Force militia” for the fighting that has resulted in the deaths of 13 South African peacekeepers in eastern Congo. He also said his government will ensure the peacekeepers are “sufficiently supported during this critical mission.”

His comment drew an angry response from Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who called the South African peacekeepers a “belligerent force” working alongside armed groups that target Rwanda. “If South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day,” the Rwandan leader said on the social media platform X.

Analysts say the real fight in eastern Congo is for control over the Congo’s vast mineral deposits. M23 rebels appear to be preparing to occupy eastern Congo for good and have told the AP of their plans to set up an administration and return displaced people to their homes.

The chaotic situation with the M23 has its roots in ethnic conflict, stretching back decades to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when 800,000 Tutsis and others were killed by Hutus and former militias. M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and others involved in the genocide. Many Hutus fled into Congo after 1994.

Unlike in 2012 when the rebels seized Congo for days, observers say their withdrawal could be more difficult now. The rebels have been emboldened by Rwanda, which feels Congo is ignoring its interests in the region and failed to meet demands of previous peace agreements, according to Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group, a think tank.

“Ultimately, this is a failure of African mediation (because) the warning signs were always there. Kigali was adopting very bellicose rhetoric and the Congolese government was also adopting very, very aggressive rhetoric,” Mutiga said.